Innovation intensity,creativity enhancement,and eco‐innovation strategy: The roles of customer demand and environmental regulation

This study develops a contingency framework to investigate how and when innovation intensity and creativity enhancement affect a firm's eco‐innovation strategy by drawing upon the perspectives of the resource‐based view and stakeholder theory. This investigation aims to explore whether firms with high innovation intensity and creativity enhancement really pursue eco‐innovation strategy. Our examination is based on a sample of 2,126 manufacturing firms. By using a hierarchical regression, the results reveal that the effects of innovation intensity and creativity enhancement on eco‐innovation strategy depend on customer demand and environmental regulation. Specifically, customer demand positively moderates the effects of innovation intensity and creativity enhancement on eco‐innovation strategy, whereas existing regulation has a weaker effect on the relationship between innovation activities and eco‐innovation strategy than that of anticipated regulation.     

The impact of net buying pressure on VIX option prices

This paper analyzes the impact of intraday trading activity on option prices in the Volatility Index (VIX) options market. Our results show that there is a temporal relationship between net buying pressure (NBP) and changes in implied volatility of VIX options. Moreover, an increase in NBPs lowers the next-day delta-hedged option returns. Using several measures proxying for limits to arbitrage, the average levels of the implied volatility curve rise when limits to arbitrage are severe. A trading strategy in the VIX futures market constructed by using the NBP generates an average annualized return of 10.09%.     

Stepping across for social approval: Ties to independent foundations' boards after financial restatement

Research Summary: Integrating research on independent philanthropy and organizational misconduct, we argue that affiliations with independent foundations provide social approval benefits for firms that restate their financials. We use a panel of S&P 500 companies from 2004 to 2011 to investigate the addition of foundation board ties by restating firms. CEOs of restating firms add more new foundation board ties than CEOs of non‐restating firms, while existing corporate philanthropy and greater corporate reputation diminish this effect. We also find that new ties to foundations boards influences media tenor for restating firms more than it does for non‐restating peers. Our study offers a nuanced analysis of the post‐crisis actions of restating firms relative to non‐restating peers and highlights the relevance of ties to nonprofit boards for corporate governance. Managerial Summary: Firms oftentimes fire their top executives in the aftermath of misconduct, but such response is itself disruptive for the firm's operations. Instead, we suggest that forging ties to independent foundations can help firms in such contexts without unsettling effects. Our results show that, after a restatement event, CEOs of misconduct firms are especially likely to join new foundation boards as trustees and thus seem to be aware of the benefits of these associations. CEOs from firms with existing in‐house philanthropy or a high reputation do not join as many new foundations' boards of trustees. We also find that new firm‐foundation links are promptly and positively evaluated by the media, thus helping misconduct firms regain social approval.     

The Distributions of Policy Reserves Considering the Policy-Year Structures of Surrender Rates and Expense Ratios

In this article, we examine how the policy-year structures of expense ratios and surrender rates affect the distributions of policy reserves. Our results show that a convex expense ratio curve, though reduces the mean and the uncertainty of reserves, could make the beneficial impact of surrenders on insurers become detrimental. Our results also show that the convexity of the surrender rate curve is favorable to insurers while the volatilities of surrender rates are unfavorable. We further find that neglecting the policy-year structures of surrender rates and expense ratios may result in overestimation of the mean and the uncertainty of reserves.     

美国次级债危机与我国商业银行抵押价值评估管理

美国次级债危机给全球金融体系带来了强烈冲击,本文从不动产抵押价值评估的角度,分析了危机中暴露出来的问题.首先对次级债发行机理和危机基本原因进行介绍;然后重点从抵押在信贷决策中的定位、不动产价值周期性波动预警、抵押风险管理、抵押价值评估理论及方法等方面分析了美国金融机构不动产抵押价值评估管理中的问题;最后在总结我国商业银行抵押风险管理现状及问题的基础上,提出具有科学性、合理性和可操作性的建议:加强系统性风险预警、明确抵押在信贷决策中的地位和作用、完善抵押价值评估管理政策、制定商业银行内部评估技术操作规范、加快抵押数据库建设和改变抵押价值评估委托关系等.     

Government websites for promoting East Asian culinary tourism: A cross-national analysis

The content of government tourism websites is very important for promoting a tourist destination's exciting cuisine and food culture. These websites help to shape a country's, region's or locality's culinary-cultural image; they create a virtual experience for culinary tourists. This study explores the contents of the cuisine and gastronomy websites of Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand, analyzing the techniques used to introduce and promote these East Asian tourist destinations' cuisine and food culture. Specifically, the researchers examined the capacity of government websites to introduce and advertise traditional and local foods, restaurants, gastronomic tours, recipes and culinary cultures (including table manners and other dining customs). They also looked more generally at culinary tourism marketing strategies, including the use of restaurant guides and certifications.     

A multidimensional perspective of SME internationalization speed: The influence of entrepreneurial characteristics

This paper contributes to a multidimensional perspective on the speed of SME internationalization. It examines the influence of entrepreneurial characteristics – experience, rationales and innovation strategies – on multiple dimensions of internationalization speed. Findings from a sample of 180 SMEs show that earliness, speed of deepening, and speed of geographic diversification can be viewed as three different strategic alternatives and that each dimension is predicted by a different set of entrepreneurial antecedents. Earliness of internationalization is associated with entrepreneurs’ international business experience and their perception of opportunities abroad as well as preference for an innovation strategy characterized by ambidextrous innovation. Speed of deepening is related to entrepreneurs’ international business experience, their orientation towards differentiation vis-à-vis competitors, and commitment to innovation and a strategy focusing on exploration. These results indicate the importance of distinguishing between different forms of innovation. Speed of geographic diversification is predicted only by entrepreneurs’ orientation towards differentiation vis-à-vis competitors.     

Signal and political accountability: environmental petitions in China

Vertical accountability in China has long been considered as essentially indirect or informal. This paper provides evidence that direct local accountability may exist to a greater or lesser degree in China under current political institutions. By using provincial environmental petition data, this paper finds that the number of environmental petitions is positively associated with provincial governments’ investments in pollution mitigation. The increased petitions serve as a signal to provincial leaders of the possibility of potential social instability. However, since “local” provincial party secretaries are better informed, the signaling effect of the petitions is lessened in these cases.